The Columbus Crew (10-14-5, 35 points) pushed its way back into the playoff hunt on Saturday afternoon with a thrilling 2-1 come-from-behind victory over the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Impact (13-8-6, 45 points).
With the win, the Crew snapped Montreal’s six-game home unbeaten streak, while also moving the club within two points of the fifth and final MLS Cup Playoffs position in the Eastern Conference. After conceding a 23rd-minute goal to MLS leading scorer Marco Di Vaio, the Crew recorded two unanswered strikes in the second half to seal the valuable win. Chad Marshall sparked the Crew’s comeback in the 63rd minute with a header from a Federico Higuain free kick, the defender’s first goal of 2013. Higuain added his second assist of the contest – and team-best eighth of the season – on Dominic Oduro’s match-winner in the 78th minute. Higuain’s cross to the Ghanaian forward was enough to secure victory, while also giving Oduro his team-leading 10th strike of the 2013 campaign.
“I thought we played well,” Oduro commented. “We came out really good and dominated for the first 20 minutes. They came out with a goal in the first half, but we countered very well and played strong in the second half. We stayed compact and overall we did very well.”
With five regular-season matches remaining, Brian Bliss’ side continues its pursuit of the postseason. Four of the five games are against Eastern Conference opponents currently above the Crew in the standings, beginning with archrival Chicago (10-11-6, 36 points) in the season’s third and final clash against the Fire on Saturday, September 21 (7:30 p.m. ET / FOX Sports Ohio).
